Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-29
KANSAS CITY'S CABLE RAILROADS
AND THEIR IMMENSE PROFITS.
Two and Half Mile Road That
Makes $500 Day-Other street Car
Matters-kansas City Pavements-The
Curious Crowd on the Streets.

estate business when he first came to Kansas
City. and he devoted his engineering talents
to moving the immense hills of earth of
which Kansas City is made from one point to
another. He kept cutting down here and
filling up there, and it was pet project of
his to devise some way to get over the bluff
which here hangs over the river landing and
upon the top and back of which the city is
built. This bluff rises almost precipitously
from the river, and its sides are lined with
terraces of little boxlike one story houses 1t
is ragged and angry, and is perhaps 200 feet
high. A long detour had to I've made to get
INTO the city, and Gillian schemed for a
time upon an inclined plane cable road
which should carry passengers only to
the top of the bluff This,S however
did not take, and he then got up nlnpany
TO lay q cable road up this incline y run
it off through the business part q city.
1t was an expensive undertaking. is
complete success, and this road 40 fries
10000 passengers a day. 1t char five
cents apiece and has an income of 81 ,0d day.
When it was being built it was estimated that
5000 fares a day would pay all its expenses,
and that 5000 passengers would enable it to
give dividend. Its capital is something over
81 600, 900, and its profits must be over $500
a day. 1t is now two and half miles long
and its course through the business section
and out to the best residence part on indie
pendence avenue is one of the best travelled in
the city. 1t goes very fast and climbs up
hill and down at the same speed. Its success
has so stimulated the desire for cable cars
that it is probable the system will be extended
to the numerous other lines which are now
run 10y mules. Cable street railroad building
costs here, am told, about 500, 600 per mile,
but Kansas City is, however, so hilly tina,
this cost ought to be more than that of other
towns of more favorable topography. The
cable is much preferred by the people to the
horse cars as a means of transit, and the res
idence property along the lines of such roads
has increased in value. Gable roads are to be
the future of the street travel of Washington
city, and there will be a big chance for real
estate speculation in buying property along
the projected lines if congress ever grants a
charter. ~
Kansas City has also an elevated railway
which leads out through the packing houses
of Armourdale and across the river to Kansas
City, Kan, and to Wyandotte, the two vii
lagos which lie on the river at this point
This road runs through the part of the city
along the river bank, and it gives the same
views of second story interiors that you see
on the elevated roads of New York city
1t seems to have plenty Of travel, too, and
is evidently prosperins.
There is also an electric railway here-one
Of the kind that communicates the electricity
from wires running over the heads of the
car. 1t is new thing, and is rather a show
affair than one of great practical use; still
it seems to work well, and | took a ride upon
it over its line of about a mile in length, and
o,,I do of n
The mule street car lines of Kansas City
are run on an economical basis The driver
acts as conductor, and gracefully takes up
the fares when his team of mules is climbing
a steep hill He then drops his lines over the
front railing of the car and steps back into it
and collects the fares. He has a bell punch
around his neck and he registers each fare
with punch and ring. At the steepest hills
a third mule is hitched to the side of the
team, and | was surprised to see, upon get
ting over the hill, that it was unhitched and
permitted to trot on to the foot, where it
stopped and helped the next car up this side
as it had done our car on the other.
4#*
Kansas City is paving a great deal with
cedar or pine blocks, which are made of trees
about four inches in diameter, cut into
lengths about five inches long. The bark is
taken off them, and they are stood on end
upon foundation of nlanks which rests upon
the ground. The blocks fit pretty closely to-
gether, and the holes surrounding them are
filed in with sand and cement. The pavement
forms pleasant one to walk and drive upon,
but the planks will soon rot, and it promises
TO be an expensive experiment. Kansas City
has twenty miles of streets paved in this way
to six miles of MacAdam and not quite two
miles of stone blocks. As to sidewalks, thu
older parts of the city are laid out with
brick AMI there is some tagging, but all over
it the wide board walks of new western
town remain in patches In front of some OF
the chief business stores-rooms which rent
for s 900 and upwards per year-theSe board
walks are seen, and they, in some places, form
the pavement in front of ground worth 81 ,OOC
to s?.OOO front foot, and under building,
which are of four, five or six stories in height.
~
The stores of Kansas City are good and
M tLaup ctn